Post details: dodd city schoolhouse and cotter train tunnel

06/24/06

dodd city schoolhouse and cotter train tunnel

A few months back, Hiccup and I went down to Arkansas to check out the Dodd City Schoolhouse and then on to Cotter to check out a local train tunnel.

Hiccup and I started out the day by getting up early and heading south toward Arkansas. I'd only been to the Dodd City Schoolhouse once before, when Slim Jim and myself had stumbled upon it by accident a few years back, so I didn't really remember where it was. Hiccup and I had even tried and failed to find it in the dark shortly before this trip. However, since it was daylight and Dodd City was about the size of a postage stamp, I didn't figure we'd have any problem finding it this time.

Once we started driving down a few of the back roads, I remembered more or less how Slim Jim and I had found it. We came upon the schoolhouse almost immediately, but the people living in the house directly beside it were outside mowing the lawn so we just did a quick driveby. Hiccup and I talked about whether we should just go into the schoolhouse anyway, or whether we should ask those people if they minded us going in there first. If they said they did mind, though, we pretty much wouldn't be able to do it.

We went back, pulled into their driveway, and started chatting with them. Thankfully, the natives were friendly. It turned out they didn't know who owned the place either, but they were just as interested in it as us. The guy that lived there said he didn't mind if we checked it out, and he and his brother (I think) went and inspected it with us.

The Dodd City schoolhouse was as amazing as I remembered it. The building was two stories tall and in incredible shape for a building that was over a hundred years old. Unfortunately, there did appear to be more graffiti than the last time I was there.

We went inside and checked out the bottom level first. It was just a large empty room with a dirt floor. There were scattered boards here and there and wooden beams holding up the ceiling. There wasn't too much to see, so we went up the wooden stairs to the upper floor.

The upstairs turned out to be more interesting. It was another large, empty room, but this one had apparently been some sort of recreational area. There had once been basketball goals at each end of the room, and you could still faintly make out the court lines on the wooden floor. What was also suprising was how sturdy the floor felt despite the age of the building. And other than a few boards missing from the ceiling, the whole room was in great shape.

Next, I decided I had to do something that I hadn't done the last time I was there. I wanted to climb up into the empty belltower at the top of the building. So, I headed to the front of the building, went up a broken ladder, and started pulling myself up through the rafters.

From up there, you really couldn't see that much. We were basically down in a little valley surrounded by trees, but I took a few pictures anyway. Then, I went back down, handed the camera to Hiccup, and climbed back up again so she could get some pictures of me sitting in the belltower.

When that was done, I came back down and we wandered around the outside of the schoolhouse with the two guys we'd met. We found two separate outhouses (boys and girls?) and checked out a long rock wall that ran alongside the nearby creek. The wall led right up to a small bridge that crossed the creek directly in front of the schoolhouse.

With that, there was nothing left to see. We thanked the neighbors for letting us check the place out, told them about our website, and gave them a sticker. Then we got back into the car and started heading south toward Cotter.

Once we got there, we had to drive around a little while looking for the campground my parents and brother were camping at, but we finally found it down by the river. We hung out for a while down there, checking out my parents' camper. There was a huge railroad bridge spanning the water there that had an old section in the middle that used to rotate to allow tall boats to go through. The bridge was begging to be explored, but there was absolutely no way to walk across it without being seen by everyone in the area.

We got some stuff together after that and started walking up the hill toward the railroad tunnel. I'd brought my ten million CP spotlight, but it hadn't charged fully in the car on the way there, so we were stuck with flashlights. It wasn't an extremely long tunnel, but it would've been nice to have it anyway.

When we got to the tunnel, I could see that the outside of the tunnel had been reinforced with spray concrete. Beyond that, the inside was shored up with plain concrete walls and wooden beams before giving way to natural rock walls. It did appear, though, that the ceiling had been sprayed with concrete in places as well.

Most of the walk down the darkened tunnel was pretty uneventful. It was just a typical railroad tunnel, with rocks and debris laying across the tracks in places. However, as Hiccup and I were walking along behind everyone else, a rock about the size of VCR suddenly slammed to the ground in front of us. It had just suddenly broken away from the two story ceiling, as many other rocks along the tracks evidently had. I was really happy we hadn't been walking a little faster.

A little farther down the tunnel, we came across something else interesting. Laying in between the railroad tracks was the body of an opossum with its head cleanly cut off by a train. We found its head about ten feet down and on the other side of the rail where it had been decapitated. A little past that, we also found a dead raccoon that had met its fate in the tunnel, but its head was still firmly attached to its body.

We reached the other side of the tunnel pretty quickly. Unlike the other side, this one wasn't reinforced with concrete and was just bare rock. We walked on past it a ways until we came to a small bridge spanning a dry creek. There, we spent a little time dropping rocks off the bridge and trying to nail pieces of junk down below while my stepfather wandered a little farther up the tracks.

When my stepfather returned, we went back the way we came. This time we just made a quick walk back through the tunnel without stopping to look at things. We also managed to avoid having any falling boulders nearly crush our skulls.

We visited with my parents for a little while back at the campsite, then Hiccup and I decided to drive over to Cotter Springs Park before we headed home. My parents had told me about an awesome rope swing they'd had set up over there, and they weren't kidding. Just beside the park, there was a large pool of water where several springs gurgled up out of the ground. There, they'd embedded a massive steel girder into the ground and attached a rope swing to it. I swang out on the rope a few times, but it was spring when this happened and way too cold to swim. Not to mention that it was freezing cold spring water I'd be landing in. Hiccup did wade out into it a little bit, though.

When we were getting ready to leave, a bunch of teenagers showed up and started heading over to the rope. We went over and watched them for a bit, thinking they might be good for a few pictures. A few of them swang out a few times, but none of them jumped in either. However, we did get to see one young guy swing out and then completely bust his tailbone on the boulders when he swung back in. It still hurts thinking about how he slammed into them. Judging by the funny way he went walking off, though, it hurt him a lot more.

When we were all done exploring and taking pictures for the day, we loaded back up into the car and started making the long drive back to Springfield.

I never got around to checking out that tunnel,I always wondered where it went. It is on an active section of track. Cotter Park is a nice place, just watch for the snakes in the water. Scared my daughter half to death!

06/28/06 @ 12:38

Comment from:
David [Visitor]

My friends, even though I don't know you, I appreciate your interest in trains and the railroad tunnel. However, please keep in mind this is a working railroad. A train will slip up behind you in quick order, and you too could look like that 'possum you photographed.

Please in the future don't risk going into a tunnel. With the continuous welded rail, a train can come coasting into a tunnel and you won't hear it until its too late. Must like trying to outrun a charging buffalo, you can't do it. If this tunnel is like most on the M&NA, there is NO room for you and a train. So, if you must, stand on the outside and look in, but don't walk in there. Remember the railroad tracks are private property.
Drust

I am not sure if those pictures are creepy or friendly. From the outside, the old schoolhouse looks like a haunted mansion. The tunnel promises something adventure-packed experiences inside it. And that picture of a dead rat reminded me of the movie The Phantom of the Opera.

John

10/21/06 @ 02:31

Comment from:
Laveta Tablish [Visitor]

I live just a short distance from the old schoolhouse. Years ago on halloween we took the grandkids down there and scared the pee out of them.We live just about 1 mile from there

12/20/06 @ 23:21

Comment from:
Terry McVey [Visitor]

I just found your site and I think it's great. I can't believe there is still a swing at Cotter. My grandmother lived in Summitt and my uncle was the railroad agent in Cotter and I remember going to that swing when I was young (I'm now in my mid-50s) - I was colder than hell then too. I enjoy your industrial explorations in St. Louis. Keep up the good stuff.

01/07/07 @ 21:13

Comment from:
Lisa [Visitor]

Hi
I live nearby Yellville, went today to Hwy 14 to Dodd City Road and went in circles looking for this fantastic structure, as I would LOVE to get some pictures. I never did find it. Would someone please give me directions? Thanks so much!

07/08/07 @ 23:02

Comment from:
Forest Wood [Visitor]

Besides the school, there was also a hotel and blacksmith. The Dodd Cith cemetary also has an interesting history.

I grew up in Cotter............learned to swim in the cold water of that old spring. There is quite a history of the spring and the surrounding area. I am somewhat of a local historian and beleive me you barely sctrached the surface of interesting going ons. For example the road from hwy 62, from Georges Creek, Just north of Yellville, to What now is Hwy 14, was the main road from Yellville, a main hamlet in Post-Civil War Marion County, and passed though the small Town of Dodd City. In reference to Mr Woods Post........Georges Creek was named after a local Mill Owner, by the name of George Wood..anyway glad I found this page and look forward to keeping track of fellow history seekers adventures and if I can be of any help with any thing around the Qzark or the upper White river Valley let me know.

Hey guys. I wanted to let you know that I am a local in the town of Mountain Home. One night me and some of my friends went exploring through the Cotter train tunnel. Our problem was getting to the tunnel( in which we walked all the way across the bridge) and took some neat photographs from the inside. On one of our pictures we had taken of one of my friends we found when we printed these photos what appeared to be an circular light. We were the only ones there and there were no flashlights on at the moment. It almost looks like the light used on the old antique trains to light up at night. Then we left the tunnel, only to walk the entire tracks to the neighboring town of Flippin. What I was wondering is how you guys made it back up the hill at the end of the tunnel to the road to get back to the campsite. Thanks...

11/24/08 @ 15:08

Comment from:
Betty [Visitor]

hey i use to live in the house next to the old school building in 1986 through 1998 there use to be an old truck out in the woods and the old out houses too and there use to be an old bar and an old smoke house behind the house where i use to live.

uhhhh, you know that has a lot deeper history than just a bridge and a tunnel. im a mountain home resident and recently talked to the locals about the place. they used to hang runaway slaves from the bridge. after they died, they just cut the rope and let the bodies float downstream. they also used to hang them in the tunnel itself. after they died, they threw the bodies either in the river or in a chamber inside the tunnel. the possum scares me the most though. iv heard folk stories about a man exploring the tunnel at night with a small lantern when the train came through. a sway bar from the car door cut his head clean off as it passed by. i thought it was local myths to scare people. but the possum reinforced my belief that something truely strange and evil is in that place. tonite me and my friend went in there and we got all the way to the chamber before having to turn back because of this bad feeling we both had. comment me back at www.fraggrenade.myspace.com

06/02/09 @ 00:57

Comment from:
ashley [Visitor]

hey, I lived on cotter all my life, but I'm only 13 so yeah. There is really nothing interesting really. I've never seen anything really creepy going on but I'm not aloud to go to the train tunnel because my parents say it's to dangerous.

07/08/09 @ 22:09

Comment from:
William [Visitor]

The city of Cotter had to replace the rope swing using a steel girder because the original rope swing was tied off to the largest Sycamore tree I had ever seen. It was huge, but it sucumbed to a windstorm several years back. A sight to behold for sure.

07/13/09 @ 10:41

Comment from:
Kyce [Visitor]

Well got some bad news for ya'll i live in Snow which is about 2 to 3 miles east of pyatt...The Old Schools Hosuse Has Been Burnt Down...Dont know the who why or where....we all use to go up in it and scare our friends...it was a beautiful place...but if this was a person damn them for taking so preicous away...as for the tunnel walk through it everyday never been hit by train lol

07/13/09 @ 16:32

Comment from:
Kyce [Visitor]

ok scratch that last part never been through the cotter tunnel but be through the one down by snow access they have a name like lowery or sumthin like that but dont remember but this tunnel has water pourin out the top of it and flowstone about a inch thick

Hey. Joy is prayer - Joy is strength - Joy is love - Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls. Help me! Need information about: Good credit score scale. I found only this - 850 Credit score. Your having a good credit score will help you get a deal with a much lower interest rate. National average credit score the range towards a successful credit application. Thanks :cool:. Ithel from Macedonia.

07/18/09 @ 04:01

Comment from:
carolyn [Visitor]

my best friend tried to show me the school house today. she had seen it a year or two ago and wanted me to see it. needless to say, as an earlier poster said, it wasn't there. someone passing by told us that kids would go in there and burn fires on the first floor dirt floor... that started the fire. at least that's what they told us. so sad. glad you have some pics. thanks!

Good afternoon. The great art of giving consists in this: the gift should cost very little and yet be greatly coveted, so that it may be the more highly appreciated.
I am from Ireland and also now am reading in English, give true I wrote the following sentence: " Like which different matter considering readily body."

I am a new member here.
I am from the US and am years old. I am here to share my experiences and gain from your expertise.
I am from Algeria and also now teach English, give please true I wrote the following sentence: "Formerly, all those who like in never land use to interface.In a water when english work was enough, increasingly the daughter settled to any art, writing in decree to retrieve the biggest course in europe.It is one of the early sustainable word years of its work.De star is mission era player mensen de reluctant belt movie access bulk process preservation engine readers in de individual spectrum."

100113SLLLZ High buy cheap ghd styler expectations are the key to every ghd iv dark styler thing. If you wait, all that happens is that you get older. Chi flat iron it is while you are patiently toiling at the little tasks of ghd mk4 black styler life that the meaning and shape of great whole of life dawn on you ghd mk4 gold styler. http://www.stylerghd.com/specials.html

100114SLZLM
This is the best black CHI Flat Iron ever! I have very coarse hair , but had become very sparse due to all of the breakage caused by other flat iron . Ever since i have been using the Dark Hair Straightener GHD IV i have had virtualy no breakage and my hair looks very healthy and shiny.This thing is really great. I’m an Asian boy and I use them to style my hair most of the time. I had 2 straighteners before, by far the GHD IV Hot Pink Styler is the best 1 for me. i have such damaged hair but after i straighten with this thing. Wow. incredible result! Love it alot. I look just like a superstar right now! Thanks to Hair Straightener Kiss GHD MK4I have been using the Pure Hair Straightener GHD IV Professional Ceramic Hair Straighteners for over a year.I have used many brands but I found that the GHD IV Purple Styling Set is by far the best for my hair

01/14/10 @ 06:33

Comment from:
phillip buffington [Visitor]

my dad was from dodd city wayman buffington &purdom family late 1800 to 1927 and came greenwood county kansas eureka his dad work as a powder monkey in the mines a black smith i have ben to the school found a purdom near by i am in eureka.ks 620 583 5448 plmbbuff@gmail.com

Good share,Attractive enough for me ,thanks for your kind share,car dvd player keeps with you at any time.Anybody can tell me where i can buy the best and the cheapest china car dvd player gps,i have to tell him that is viewtech,it will be your right choice.

Bothbest hot tub is a large home-made or manufactured tub or small pool full of heated water and used for soaking, relaxation, massage, or hydrotherapy. In most cases, they have jets for massage purposes. Hot tubs are usually located outdoors, and are often sheltered for protection from the elements, as well as for privacy.

Bamboo flooring is made from quick growing bamboo stalks, planted throughout Anhui, Jiangxi and Zhejiang provinces in China. Bamboo grows to a height of 1.5 meters within the first several months of growth, and thereafter is harvested every 5-6 years. It is cut into strips, and then laminated into flooring planks.

We offer the farouk chi flat iron. We provide the best price and free shipping for all the chi flat iron. As we know, the ghd iv styler is the first class and famous brand. So it is the good chance for you. Don't let it pass. If you are looking for the babyliss flat iron, you have come to the right place for
instyler rotating hot iron.

When you feel hurt and your tears are gonna to drop. Please look up and have a look at the sky once belongs to us. If the sky is still vast,clouds are still clear, you shall not cry because my leave doesn't take away the world that belongs to you.

don't think that when people grow up, they will become more broad-minded and can accept everything. Conversely, I think it's as electing process, knowing what's the most important and what's the least. And then be a simple man
http://www.zrhprint.com

buy electronic cigarettes Lunoecig, for people looking for smoking replacement and E Cigarette

buying with the most reasonable price, the original place of production and the

outstanding customer service!

08/19/10 @ 07:02

Comment from:
mario [Visitor]

Jewelry is women's best friend. It is surely a long lasting gift to your loved ones and enhances ones beauty with its attention getting charm. So, while buying such beautiful jewelry for your precious ones, you need to make sure that you get them from trust worthy places. Pandora bracelets, Links of http://www.tiffanysfree.com, Tiffany jewelry offer you top edge designs and high quality jewelry at affordable prices. They are known for their elegant yet bright designs that could match any occasion. Jewelry these brands offer has a specific meaning that expresses many feelings

When we got to the tunnel, I could see that the outside of the tunnel had been reinforced with spray concrete. Beyond that, the inside was shored up with plain concrete walls and wooden beams before giving way to natural rock walls. It did appear, though, that the ceiling had been sprayed with concrete in places as well.